Central Alberta Amateur Radio Club
2019 Basic Amateur Radio Course
Jan 7th
The next Instruction and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada authorized exam for obtaining a Basic Amateur Radio Operator Certificate in Red Deer will be two days, March 23 AND 30, 2019 from 09:00-16:30
We are meeting at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints 3002 47 Ave, Red Deer (Across from Sunnybrook Farm)
Please preregister by sending $20 to Garry Jacobs VE6CIA 45 Selkirk Blvd. Red Deer, AB T4N 0G4 or etransfer to ve6cia@gmail.com by Mar. 18, 2019
Total refunds available up to Mar. 18 if you can’t make it.
Course manual provided at first class. Bring a highlighter and calculator if you have one.
Preclass information available:
http://strategis.ic.gc.ca/epic/internet/insmt-gst.nsf/en/h_sf06073e.html
http://www.ic.gc.ca/eic/site/smt-gst.nsf/eng/h_sf05378.html
http://wp.rac.ca/requirements/
http://www.eham.net/newham/
Any questions, don’t hesitate to contact: Garry VE6CIA 403-343-1930 or ve6cia@gmail.com
Training session and NBEMS
Dec 19th
Following the CAARC general meeting January 16, 2018, if there is interest, there will be a short training session on formal written message traffic handling. Weather and other items permitting there may also be a display of NBEMS (Narrow Band Emergency Message System)
2019 Fathers Day Picnic raffle tickets
Dec 12th
The 2019 Fathers Day Picnic raffle tickets will be available at the January general meeting. I am making sure to have proper front covers this time.
VE6xy
President CAARC
New Amateur Radio Packet Gear Awaits Unpacking, Installation on Space Station
Dec 10th
New Amateur Radio Packet Gear Awaits Unpacking, Installation on Space Station
12/18/2018New Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) packet equipment awaits unpacking and installation on board the station after arriving in November as part of the cargo transported via a Russian 71P Progress resupply vehicle. The new packet module for NA1SS will replace the current packet gear, which has been intermittent over the past year.
“With the arrival of Progress complete, the crew has to find free time unpack Progress, uninstall the intermittent module, and then set up and test the replacement packet module,” explained Dan Barstow, KA1ARD, senior education manager of the ISS National Laboratory (CASIS), an ARISS sponsor.
The ISS packet system was reported to have gone down in July 2017, although it unexpectedly came back to life the following summer. At the time of the failure, NASA ISS Ham Radio Project Engineer Kenneth Ransom, N5VHO, said the revived system would fill the gap until the replacement packet module was launched and installed. The packet system operates on 145.825 MHz. ARISS hardware team members on the ground were able to locate a functional duplicate of the ISS packet module that has been in use on the ISS for 17 years. ARISS said the subsequent installation will depend on the crew’s busy schedule.
In an email to ARISS and other groups CASIS supports, Barstow pointed out that ARISS is an official back-up system for astronauts to talk with Mission Control in the unlikely failure of the station’s primary communication systems.
Bartow said that in 2017, hams relayed nearly 89,000 packet messages via the ISS — an average of 243 every day. The statistic so intrigued and amazed Barstow that he decided to get his Amateur Radio license and gear to join in the activity.
Satellite stalwart and ARISS supporter Patrick Stoddard, WD9EWK, won the December 2018 QST Cover Plaque Award for his article, “Making Digital Contacts through the ISS.”
Current International Space Station (ISS) crew members Serena Auñón-Chancellor, KG5TMT, Alexander Gerst, KF5ONO, and cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev are scheduled to return to Earth on December 20 on a Soyuz vehicle.
SSO-A mission with Amateur Radio satellites launched December 3
Dec 5th
From AMSAT.UK
Spaceflight’s SSO-A SmallSat Express mission, carrying many amateur radio satellites, launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 18:34 GMT on Monday, December 3.
Watch the launch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wq8kS6UoOrQ
ESEO 437.000 MHz beacon received by Surrey Space Centre
64 small satellites from 17 countries were launched on this mission, some with amateur radio payloads. A full list of satellites, can be found at
https://directory.eoportal.org/web/eoportal/satellite-missions/content/-/article/sso-a
Four microsatellites including ESEO, carrying an AMSAT-UK FUNcube-4 transponder, were deployed about 2 hours and 13 minutes after launch.
60 CubeSats including Jordan’s JY1SAT carrying a FUNcube-6 transponder and capable of transmitting Slow Scan Digital Video (SSDV) images deployed about 2 hours later.
EMO worker tries to drum up enthusiasm for ham radio
Oct 14th
EMO worker tries to drum up enthusiasm for ham radio
In an emergency, ham radio is an essential form of communication, Mike Johnson says
A free workshop about ham radios will be held in Sackville on Oct. 22. (Nicole Williams/CBC)
A ham radio probably isn’t the first form of communication a person thinks about in an emergency, but sometimes, it’s the only one that works.
Ham radios can use wireless transmission to send messages to battery-operated radios.
And they can be useful when large storms knock out telecommunications, says Mike Johnson, the Cumberland Regional Emergency Management co-ordinator.
He is partnering up with EOS Eco-Energy and the West Cumb Amateur Radio Club to hold a free workshop in Sackville to try get more people interested in ham radios.
Different technology
Johnson, who is also a member of the WestCumb club in Amherst, N.S., said that when we lose essential communications such as cellphones, landlines and the Internet — a ham radio can come to the rescue. Hurricane Michael, which struck Florida this week, devastated normal channels of communications.
Storms that knock out telecommunications for long periods of time create more problems for co-ordinated emergency response, he said.
He said he’s already seen how ham radios could help in New Brunswick.
In January 2017, a massive ice storm knocked out power to thousands in the northeast for days.
Operators dwindling
“It became very difficult,” said Johnson.
Today, ham radios are considered a hobby more than a necessity, and not many people know how they work.
“Our numbers are dwindling,” Johnson said of the amateur radio clubs.
But younger members are needed, especially since the clubs’ services may be needed even more as the climate changes.
“We still use Morse code to this day,” he said.
Requires a test
Johnson said there are a few steps to becoming a ham radio operator.
“You need to study, take the test, once you pass it’s a one-time cost,” he said. “It’s good for life.”
After that, it’s just buying the equipment to use. Equipment for amateur radio costs between $300 and $5,000.
The workshop will be held at the Sackville Royal Canadian Legion on Monday, Oct. 22, at 6:30 p.m.
